Objective: To estimate sex-specific associations (total, direct, and indirect effects) between objectively measured neighbourhood walkability and greenness and objectively measured physical activity and health-related fitness including cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness in Canadian adults.
Methods: Neighbourhood walkability (Canadian Active Living Environment) and greenness (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; NDVI) data were linked to cardiorespiratory (i.e., submaximal step test estimated V̇O max) and muscular fitness (i.e., handgrip strength) and accelerometer measured physical activity; Canadian Health Measures Survey). Covariate-adjusted sex-stratified path analyses was conducted to assess if physical activity (light: LPA; moderate: MPA, and; vigorous: VPA) mediated the associations between neighbourhood walkability, NDVI and health-related fitness. Model sample sizes ranged from 987 to 2796 for males and 989 to 2835 for females.
Results: Among males, we found indirect effects between neighbourhood walkability and cardiorespiratory fitness via LPA (negative) and VPA (positive). We also found a total effect (negative) between neighbourhood walkability and grip strength and indirect effects between neighbourhood walkability and handgrip strength via LPA (negative) and MPA (negative). Among females, we found a total effect (positive) and direct effect (positive) between neighbourhood walkability and cardiorespiratory fitness, and an indirect effect for neighbourhood walkability and cardiorespiratory fitness via LPA. We found no significant effects related to neighbourhood greenness.
Conclusions: Residing in a neighbourhood with higher walkability may positively affect cardiorespiratory fitness but negatively affect muscular strength. The negative associations between neighbourhood walkability and LPA may offset potential positive associations between neighbourhood walkability and MPA and VPA and their subsequent influence on health-related fitness.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107792 | DOI Listing |
Issues Ment Health Nurs
January 2025
Program in Occupational Therapy, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Background: People living with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder are at heightened risk for experiencing loneliness, which is associated with negative health, quality of life, and symptom-specific outcomes.
Aims: This study aimed to better understand the experience of loneliness among adults living with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
Methods: Using a semi-structured interview guide, researchers interviewed twelve participants living with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
BMC Public Health
January 2025
Department of Health Policy and Management, Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1772, USA.
Background: Shared equity homeownership - a model in which low- and moderate-income households purchase homes at affordable prices on the condition that the houses remain affordable upon resale - has been shown to produce several health-enhancing housing outcomes. These include permanent affordability, housing stability, and modest wealth-building. However, studies suggest low- and moderate-income households may sacrifice neighborhood quality when becoming homeowners, which can undermine the health benefits of homeownership.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Phys Act Health
January 2025
Department of Urban Planning and Architectural Design, German University of Technology, Muscat, Oman.
Background: Ensuring a livable and healthy built environment that addresses challenges of climate change and the pandemic of noncommunicable diseases should include creating an environment support of physical activity. This study aims to build local evidence on improving the residential areas by assessing the built environment of 4 residential areas in Oman.
Methods: This study uses the Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes-Mini, a 15-item tool with 4 subscales (destinations and land use, aesthetics, pedestrian infrastructure, and crossings/traffic safety), to conduct environmental audits of 4 areas in Barka and Nizwa, Oman.
J Community Psychol
January 2025
School of Humanities, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai, China.
This study aims to explore the association between community-based social capital, namely clan identity and sense of community (SOC), and perceived neighbourhood walkability (PNW) in relation to depressive symptoms among rural older adults in urbanisation. A sample of 489 older adults in an urbanising county of Western China participated and moderated mediation analysis was utilised. PNW was negatively associated with depressive symptoms, and SOC mediated the focal association.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Hyg Environ Health
December 2024
Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERESP, Madrid, Spain.
This study investigated the associations between residential environmental characteristics and the prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases in the five largest Bulgarian cities. Representative cross-sectional survey data (N = 4640 adults) was collected in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, and Ruse. Participants self-reported diagnosis or medication intake for hypertension, ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, and diabetes mellitus, as well as domestic burning of solid fuel and having a domestic garden.
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